::So I decided to write a reverse ending for my friend who didn't like the happy ending😂::
April's been okay. Not great. Not terrible. Just okay. She's not getting better, but then again she's not getting worse. It's been two weeks. Two weeks since I got here and we still haven't found a match. I got tested. Chester did too. Even my parents. None of us are a match and I'm starting to get worried.
"You can come in." The nurse calls to me from inside April's room.
I take a deep breath and walk in, preparing myself for the shell of April's former self. More of April's hair is gone now and her face is paler than ever. She's frowning, like usual. She tries to push a smile when she sees me, but she ends up turning into a fit of coughs instead. I immediately rush to her side. I guess this is one of April's bad days: The doctors said she would have these.
"You ok?" I gently ask.
April's the only person I'm "gentle" with. I feel slightly guilty for the attitude I've had towards everyone else . Especially Chester. He's been trying to ease my nerves lately and I let him. He pampers me with comfort that I don't return. I know I said I would try to forgive and forget and have a better attitude, but it's harder than it looks and I want April to get better. I can't focus on anything else until she does.
April swallows and takes a shallow breath. She slowly nods.
"I guess." She whispers, then corrects herself with a smile. "I will be."
"I think so too." I smile down at her.
April's a fighter. She'll be ok.
Her pale face sprinkles into a weak smile as she slowly shakes her head. I grab one of her cold hands, a confused look on my face.
"I won't be ok in the way that you think." She chokes out.
My face plaes just like April's and I frantically dart my eyes all around her face, trying to read her the best I can.
"What?" I ask quietly.
She doesn't respond. Instead she points to her bedside table. My eyes follow her pointing hand to a pink letter sitting on her cluttered table.
"For you." She says weakly.
Her breathing hitches for a moment and my heart drops. Not just drops, sinks, no plummets to the freaking bottom of my chest.
"Are you- are you-" I stutter. I don't even know what I'm asking.
"I'll be ok. I'll be more than ok." She smiles weakly.
"April... April no. You're gonna be okay. You've been doing good I-"
"I haven't been Lesley. That's just something they're telling you so you won't freak out. I'm not- I'm-" she chokes on her words with a weak cough. "No no. I am. I am ok." She smiles up at the ceiling, taring her eyes from my panicked ones. "Im perfect."
Her eyes close and I squeeze her hand, hard.
"No! Don't close your eyes!" I yell. Her droopy eyes open again and she fights to keep them that way.
"It's ok." She whispers as the monitor to my right starts to beep faster.
"No!" I scream. "Nurse! Doctor! Someone!" I shriek as tears fill my eyes.
I drop her hand and grab the letter as the monitor speeds up and April closes her eyes. Still no one has barged in here!
"No no no!" I bawl as I run from the room, not looking back.
I charge into the hall and wail for someone, anyone to help. Doctors and nurses rush past me and into the room as the beeping blares in my ears, so fast that I cover my ears and shriek so loud it echoes in the hall. I collapse to the ground as Chester leaps to my side and holds me as close to him as he can, his own sobs heard threw my hands on my ears.
Then,
Everything stops. The beeping stops, leaving one last long and daunting beep that echoes in my head.
"I can't hear it I can't hear I can't hear it!" I bawl as the loud ring fills the hall. "Please." I gasp for air. "Please make it stop."
Chester places his hands over mine, blocking all noise from my ears.
And so we sit. Siting lifelessly against the hospital wall as a dramatic and frantic scene plays in the room behind us, with Chester's bigger hands over my smaller ones against my ears as my sobs turn to whimpers and I'm granted the silence I need.
But silence is just as loud. It's suffocating and so thick. Silence is made up fatality. Theres no such thing. Everything is always screeching and blaring and loud.
And I was stupid to want quiet to actually exist.
.
.
I sit alone in April's bedroom, dressed in all black. Boxes she never had time to put away litter the floor and the walls are blank. She had so much more to do. So much more of her story to write. So much of her wall to cover with posters and post cards and stupid inspirational sayings. She had so much more.
But her life was torn from her at fifteen. I wish aplastic anemia was a person. I would punch that person in the face. Or a disease without a cure, so I could spend my life finding a cure for it.
But aplastic anemia did have cure, April just wasn't granted the time she needed to find a donor. So the only thing I'm left to do is pray and ask why?
The pink letter I have yet to open sits in my lap, wrinkled and slightly torn.
Tears prick at my eyes as I take a deep breath and rip the letter open.
April's last letter.
Dear Lesley,
Don't cry.
Too late April.
Please. Im okay Lesley. Really, I am. Im in heaven. Heaven. Heaven heaven heaven. The place we have talked and wondered about our whole lives. I know what it's like now. That's crazy. I actually know what's it's like. And however it is, it's wonderful. So please don't be mad at me for not telling you. I know this hurts like hell but trust me on this. I know what I'm doing. I love you Les, you are the best- best friend I could ever ask for. Don't forget that. Keep your head up Les. And let go. Don't hold a grudge. Don't be angry. Just let go. Take a deep breath and let yourself be happy. You're not doing me any good wasting your time being sad. I get grieving, sure. But I know you Les. You won't let me go. You'll grieve your whole life and I won't be there to slap you in the face and say, "Snap out of it!" Be strong Lesley, for me.
Love love love you boo boo.
-April.
I lower the paper from my quivering hands and wipe furiously at the tears under my eyes. I'll be strong. I will be strong. Not for myself, but for April.
"Love love love you boo." I whisper into the open space.
And that I do.
.
.
Just to clarify, this is the opposite ending. It's not the real ending! (unless you want it to be I suppose)
